Introduction
The article addresses exit interview as a tool for managing staff turnover. It begins by highlighting concerns of companies regarding high staff turnover while others even wish for more. However, worries often begin when valuable talents depart the firm. Most managers attribute poor pay, meagre selection preferences, and lack of career development as part of the key reasons that prompt some staff to leave the company (Furnham, 2001). The few concerned managers often embark on a fact-finding mission by employing exit interviews to ascertain the causes of staff turnover.
Problem Identification
The major problem that prompts conducting exit interviews is to simultaneously attain numerous functions. First, exit interview seeks to supposedly assist the company to amend issues of staff attrition and any other decayed corporate challenges. Second, it helps the outgoing staff to have the opportunity to let off their disappointment and anger before someone who can listen to them (Aqil & Memon, 2020). The possible future problem is that the discharge of emotions might feel cathartic at the moment, but it might be mistakenly advised in the end. It is usually imprudent to burn bridges, especially in a small sector, town, or world where organizations normally record what employees say during the exit interview.
Problem Analysis
The apparent causes of staff turnover that ultimately result in exit interviews include employee unhappiness at the workplace coupled with the attraction to other job opportunities. Most causes encompass nature of supervision that might be appalling to most workers. The relations with subordinates and colleagues, job security, workload, the flexibility of salary, hours, benefits, committing location/distance coupled with family or personal issues. The issues normally come into full play since some companies may trivialize the matters raised by employees while in the fullness of time, such disgruntled staff begins to develop a poor attitude towards the company. The combination of these aspects makes them reconsider their allegiance, hence, resorting to exiting the company.
The major underlying issues with exit interviews comprise timing factors. In most scenarios, the grieving process takes a longer period and people can normally have prudent reflection after a considerable time of between six and nine months to allow for selfless responses on exit interviews. The key assumption is that the employees remain composed and not overwhelmed by emotions even after leaving the company to facilitate considerate reflections during exit interrogations.
Alternative Solutions
An alternative to exit interviews is entry interviews, which can be administered to employees while joining the company to help the firm understand their expectations and commitments. Another option that can be utilized by companies is stay interviews (Sengupta et al., 2018).
The advantage of an entry interview is that it enhances employee loyalty by fostering improved connections, which can result in more mentoring and professional development. Entry interviews also reduce miscommunication and misunderstanding that might ensue between employer and employee. However, its shortcoming is that some employees might hide their true behaviors just to impress their new employers. The method can also provide false commitment from employees who might just be interested in acquiring the job first with no known dedication to the overall company goals. Stay interviews also critical in assessing employees’ commitment to the organization by identifying resulting challenges facing the staff. The disadvantage is that employees might play safe due to fear of reprisals by the management.
Recommendation
Exit interviews should emphasize data quality since the practicality of the exercise is anchored utterly in the forthrightness and honesty of the departing staff. Individuals might not be candid on their exit talks, especially if the circumstances surrounding their leaving is marred by unresolved issues (Mokibelo, 2020). They might feel unmotivated to give thoughtful reviews and feelings about the company as well as shy from talking negatively about their supervisors or criticizing the manager whom they hate.
Implementation
To ensure data quality, the interviewer should first design questions that seek to drive out the causes of leaving the company without victimization. Second, the company needs to provide a considerable window period of about seven months before carrying out the exit interviews. The strategy will allow leaving employees to have appropriate composure that is not characterized by emotional attachment while allowing candid responses to the questions.
Conclusion
Exit interviews are the final official meeting between an outgoing employee and the management, often an appointee from the human resource department. The meeting seeks to receive candid opinions on work-related challenges and reflections about the company. Exit interviews help the company to amend the main causes of staff attrition and any other decayed corporate challenges. The interview also assists the departing employee to show their disappointment before someone who is ready to attend to them.
Question 1
The freely divulged reasons for leaving a job might encompass the urge to look for new challenges that can help in upgrading a portfolio and spreading an individual’s horizon. However, concealed reasons for exiting a company might include tedious, stressful, or humdrum conditions.
Question 2
Apart from engaging in exit interviews between six and nine months, the interviewer can consider diverting from asking questions that relate to specific persons in the company. The interrogator should also attempt to circumvent the general adverse tone and infer penalties for others due to information collected from the discussion.
Question 3
The company can use stay interviews as a substitute to exit interviews to help ascertain why good staff stays and what may prompt them to depart the company.
References
Aqil, R., & Memon, S. B. (2020). The exit interview in Pakistan’s IT and banking industries: mere formality or catalyst for change? Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 39(2), 62-70. Web.
Furnham, A (2001, August). Catharsis with your cards: exit interviews with departing employees help companies to learn about themselves. Financial Times, 2-4.
Mokibelo, E. (2020). Exit interviews: a mirror for the employer. European Journal of Human Resource, 4(1), 47-62. Web.
Sengupta, M., Sengupta, N., & Bandopadhyay, K. (2018). Unravelling employee off-boarding: the magic of exit interview. International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 8(1). Web.